Bill S432-2013

Provides residency of a person at the time of filing certain petitions shall be presumed to be the residence address of such person

Provides residency of a person at the time of filing a designating or nominating petition or a certificate of designation, nomination or substitution shall be presumed to be the residence address of such person at the time of commencement of the term of his or her office or position.

Details

Actions

Memo

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to eligibility restrictions for designation or nomination

PURPOSE: This bill adds section 6-122 of the election law to presume the residence address on a candidate's nominating petition is the same at the time at commencement of such office or position.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Amends the election law by adding two new subsections to §6-122.

EXISTING LAW: The state constitution provides a one year residency requirements for all those who seek to serve as a member of the State legislature or in an elected statewide office. Otherwise, local law dictates residency requirements for public office.

JUSTIFICATION: Under article IV, §7 of the state constitution no person shall serve as a member of the legislature unless he or she is a citizen of the United States and has been a resident of the state for five years and specifically a resident within the district for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election. Aside from this section of the constitution and outside of local law or ordinance there are no other residency requirements that must be met before running for public office.

Over the last several years there have been many documented cases of people moving directly into districts with the express intention of solely running for office. These candidates have no ties with the districts and constituents they seek to represent and often times issues over residency turn into campaign fodder.

One recent example regarding residency occurred in a special election to fill a New York City Council seat in Brooklyn. In that case it turned out that the winner did not reside in the district prior to the election as required by local law, and as a result could not take office after the results were certified As a result, another election must now be held at the direct expense of the taxpayers. The costs associated with this second election should not be shouldered onto those of the taxpayers, especially given the fact this whole situation never should have arisen in the first place.

This bill will codify in state law and make applicable to all those wishing to run for public office in the state a residency requirement. Such a requirement will prevent carpetbaggers from simply moving into a district to run for public office and will stop the unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer dollars to hold additional elections when it turns out the winner never lived in the district to begin with.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2011/2012: S.1329 2009/2010: S.1429/A.7367

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
432
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
(PREFILED)
January 9, 2013
___________

Introduced by Sen. DILAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to eligibility
restrictions for designation or nomination
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 6-122 of the election law, as amended by chapter
511 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
S 6-122. Designation or nomination; eligibility, restrictions. 1. A
person shall not be designated or nominated for a public office or party
position who (1) is not a citizen of the state of New York; (2) is inel-
igible to be elected to such office or position; or (3) who, if elected
will not at the time of commencement of the term of such office or posi-
tion, meet the constitutional or statutory qualifications thereof or,
with respect to judicial office, who will not meet such qualifications
within thirty days of the commencement of the term of such office.
2. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE RESIDENCE ADDRESS OF A
PERSON, AT THE TIME OF FILING OF A DESIGNATING OR NOMINATING PETITION OR
A CERTIFICATE OF DESIGNATION, NOMINATION OR SUBSTITUTION AND NAMED AS A
CANDIDATE FOR PUBLIC OFFICE OR PARTY POSITION IN SUCH PETITION OR
CERTIFICATE, SHALL BE PRESUMED TO BE THE RESIDENCE ADDRESS OF SUCH
PERSON AT THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT OF THE TERM OF SUCH OFFICE OR POSI-
TION.
3. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, IN THE EVENT A PERSON, WHO WAS
QUALIFIED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISIONS ONE AND TWO OF THIS SECTION, CHANGES
HIS OR HER RESIDENCE SUBSEQUENT TO THE FILING OF A PETITION OR CERTIF-
ICATE, AS DESCRIBED IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION, THE NEW RESI-
DENCE ADDRESS SHALL THEN BE PRESUMED TO BE THE RESIDENCE ADDRESS OF SUCH
PERSON AT THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT OF THE TERM OF PUBLIC OFFICE OR PARTY
POSITION.
S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00678-01-3

Comments

Open Legislation comments facilitate discussion of New York State legislation. All comments are subject to moderation.
Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity or hate speech;
or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Comment moderation
is generally performed Monday through Friday.